No Fun Being a Point Sixer

Ian M

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 3, 2001
Messages
2,410
Location
Sask. Canada
Shot my GA Crusader yesterday with 175 Black Hills match ammo. Best groups went exactly 0.600. That accuracy is not what the ammo can do. It is not what the rifle can do. I have not been shooting enough on the bench so - instead of sub half inch the best I can shoot right now is point six. Only one way to fix that - got to pull the trigger more. Can't shoot prone comfortably yet - my back is not good courtesy of falling off the horse a while back in Montana.

I see so many incredible groups casually mentioned in articles, websites and also at the gunshops. Seems we are expected to believe that regardless of equipment the guy is capable of sub half or better accuracy. I shoot my share but there are lots of days I cannot average one half minute for three or four consecutive groups. I just shot eight five-shot groups. Every one had one pulled shot, right out of the cluster. Every pull was called as a lousy release, trigger control was just not good enough.

I am keeping the best two groups, the point sixes, so I can try to get my skills better. Frustrating to have rifles that shoot so much better than you can. Nice thing about this Crusader, the cold bore shot is on the point of aim every time. That is excellent, obviously George did a great job of bedding that big Obermaier barrel and 7000 action. George built this rifle himself, nice rig.
 
I know hwhat you mean as I have not had the opurtunity to shoot as regularly this year as last year and I am not shooting as well as last year it definately takes practice...
 
Sounds pretty frustrating, but I've been there myself. For some reason on about 1/3 of the days I try and shoot my right eye won't stay focused for anything, on which days MOA is a gift. Makes load development chores almost pointless. At least you know your gun and load shoot well, so you can concentrate on your performance as the variable. Bet that Crusader is one slick stick, too.

Hope your back heals up well and in a timely fashion.
 
Ian,

That's dreadful shooting;
I did much, much better yesterday...

at 200m my 155smk load averaged 0.58MOA

and my NBT load averaged at 0.596 MOA

....I'd hate for either of those to plummet to 0.6 MOA /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


...somedays you go out and just 'know' you're not going to shoot well...I had one of those yesterday..only my 2nd time out after a 3 month gap. Glad I was nowhere near as bad as you though /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

(At 519m /568yds I only managed 4 shots into 0.93MOA which was rather annoying. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif ....the reason it was only 4 is another story in itself..lets just say "impromtu 'crack and thump' demo" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif)

(Even more annoying was 2weeks or so ago, when I got out for the first time....super zero and come-ups check....then (after cleaning) managed to drop my rifle down 3 stairs. My, how I laughed!)

Matt
 
Matt,
You are correct, some days all we do is make empty brass. On the other hand, when I am shooting well I can release the trigger and know that sucker is going into the group. Simple as that, I did my part, now the rifle and ammo can do theirs. Feels like I can pound them on top of each other when I am on, but you have to pull the trigger a lot to get there and stay there.

Fortunately, deer and most big game are relatively large targets until they get out past 500 yards or so. Having seen images of your rifle I am confident it will survive a drop of only three steps. But something like that bugs the heck out of a person.

I have a rifle here now that I have to shoot. It went down a mountain under a horse. Should be interesting to see if it is still zeroed. It operates OK, nothing bent or out of order. Just not sure if the scope is still zeroed. Only one way to find out.

Great to hear from you, hope your family is fine and your new challenges are enjoyable.
 
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